The weirdness of back to school in January

Hello, Internet! (We’ve met before. Well, I’ve met you. I’m a great fan of your work. Can I get you a drink? You look great tonight.)

There’s something bizarre about coming back to school in January. In September, you’ve had 4 months to live life and, towards the end of summer, you have plenty of time to gear up for the coming school year but, at winter break, there’s lots of build-up to Christmas and, it feels like as soon as Christmas is over, there’s New Year’s and suddenly you’re back in school! I’m not saying winter break is too short – I didn’t have any exams in my classes this year, so mine certainly wasn’t. It’s more about the fact that there’s so much going on in the (not quite) 2 weeks before classes start back up.

I won’t lie. I spent my winter break sleeping until at least 1 pm and watching shows like Fringe on Netflix until 4 am (Peter Bishop = my perfect man). It was glorious but I came back to Victoria on New Year’s Eve with 4 completely empty days before school started and by Monday I was still not organized. My circadian rhythm resembled that of a… actually, I can’t think of anyone or anything that sleeps like that. I guess I was a freak of nature.

Maybe it’s just me. Maybe all other humans manage to travel, unpack, restock the fridge and get back into school mode in that time. Actually, when I list it like that, I feel a bit pathetic for not getting it done. I could say it was because one of the days was a Sunday and everything was closed, or that I spent time with my friends, or that public transit takes a long time but I think it’s clear that the culprit was my need to finish the last season of Fringe.